There were rumors circulating that the promotion wanted to make sure Ryback got one more crack at the WWE championship before the Royal Rumble, making up for the match he didn’t get at the TLC pay-per-view (PPV) because of CM Punk’s untimely injury.

Now it appears there’s a date for that match and it’s Jan. 7, 2013, on the very first episode of Monday Night Raw of the new year. Not only that but on the Christmas Eve episode of Raw, Ryback reveals he wants it to be a tables, ladders, and chairs match.

This is interesting for a number of reasons. For starters, Punk was taken off the holiday house show tour because he needed more time to heal. Having him come back to a match type like that against a wrestler like Ryback seems risky, especially considering the stakes.

After all, it’s just a few weeks away from the Rumble and Punk’s planned match with The Rock.

TLC makes sense however it allows for interference on Punk’s behalf; and it’ll be a ladder match, meaning Ryback can lose without being pinned. It works, keeps the title on Punk, and leaves open the run in possibility to get Ryback into a feud elsewhere and out of the immediate title picture.

“The Great One” is also back the first episode of Raw, on Jan. 7 in Tampa, Florida. That sets up easy for Punk to beat Ryback and Rock to make his presence felt immediately after, or any other number of scenarios that ultimately results in some sort of interaction with Rock and Punk.

That should be fun, but this is WWE we could see some serious screw ups.

Now apparently the latest news coming out about CM Punk is that Vince McMahon has only been supportive of CM Punk keeping the WWE Title for so long is because of The Rock wanted him to?

Now lets think about that for a second, Mr McMahon being told what to do by The Rock, I doubt even the great one would get away with that however on the other hand The Rock brought McMahon ‘the millions’ last year at WM and I’m not talking about the fans.

McMahon was said to be very supportive of CM Punk holding on to the title at Survivor Series because he’s worried if the title gets put on someone different, The Rock might have an issue with it.

I’m sorry ‘might’ I think McMahon would have a pretty strong idea, I know he’s getting on a bit but come on!

CM Punk vs. Rock at Royal Rumble has been teased since the summer and is something The Rock agreed to do. Vince reportedly doesn’t want to upset The Rock by changing things last minute regarding the creative plans for 2013.

So in conclusion, there is no chance that Ryback will get the belt… Unless Vince wants picks his Ryback push over annoying The Rock? and ill be honest here, I wouldn’t put it past him.

The only thing that stops be believing this match is pointless is the fact that it is so obviously pointless.

Ryback, the one WWE’s creative seem intent on pushing to the moon, has already lost in two consecutive pay-per-view main events. While these defeats were by no means in a clean manner, the match cards for both Hell in a Cell and Survivor Series read as nothing other than a loss to current WWE Champion CM Punk.

Ryback has managed to get over as a top face remarkably quickly. It is plausible to suggest that he needs to start picking up pay-per-view victories again to maintain his soaring momentum, rather than being continually outwitted by Punk, Heyman and company.

Following the Nov 19 edition of Monday Night Raw, it became apparent that creative intended to continue the feud between Ryback and the WWE Champion. The feud would culminate at TLC, with the winner going on to face The Rock at Royal Rumble.

There is one problem with this: There is only one winner.

Is any invested fan expected to believe that Punk will drop the belt at the last hurdle with “The People’s Champ” waiting in the wings?

Moreover, would a Ryback victory lead to a triple-threat match at January’s top-four pay-per-view?

After all, Punk would surely deserve a rematch following a 400-plus day stint with the WWE Championship. The problem remains that fans by now know that the Royal Rumble main event will feature Punk defending against The Rock (Punk confirmed this at thanksgiving)

Rather than having Punk beat Ryback in tainted fashion once more, creative could book their champion for a clean win over an upper mid-card/main-event face. An ideal pick is someone like Randy Orton, who has no real involvement in any meaningful feud at the moment. Furthermore, the crowd support that Orton receives is arguably second only to John Cena. It would likely be unaffected by a clean loss at the final pay-per-view event of the year.

Ultimately, whomever CM Punk faces on Dec 16, fans can bet their houses on his retention of the title in one way or another.

So why waste the opportunity by having him defeat Ryback on a third pay-per-view in a row?

It would make more sense to have Ryback become involved in some type of a handicap match with the NXT invaders, with Punk defending his title against a well-established face. That would allow the champion to gain momentum going into his feud with The Rock.

What do you think?

Will a third consecutive loss hurt Ryback’s stock, or does outside interference void any momentum loss?